June 29, 2005

Congress Gets Raise- What about Min Wage?

Under the law, Congress gets an automatic pay increase tied to inflation, which amounts to $3100 more pay next year, or $165,200 per year.

Now, there's nothing wrong with indexing pay to inflation, but what Congress does for itself, it refuses to do for minimum wage workers. Today's $5.15 per hour minimum wage is 41% less in inflation-ajusted terms than the minimum wage in 1968, when it's real value was $8.78.

Since 1997, the last time the minimum wage was raised, Congressional pay has risen from $133,600, or a 24% increase in pay. If the minimum wage had even kept up with Congressional pay increases since then, the minimum wage should be at least $6.37 per hour.

But instead, while Congress's pay automatically increases each year, minimum wage workers see inflation cutting their real pay year after year after year.